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The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 8, 2000 -
Brubeck proves why he's outlasted critics in Jazz'
The Hartford Courant
Curtesy of A m lue
Amazin' Blue will perform selections from its latest CD, Raising the Bar, tonight.
Go 'Blue'* A cap elia
jtMichigan tonight
When Dave Brubeck utters a heartfelt
sob as he recounts his shocking boyhood
encounter with the horror of racism in
America, Ken Burns' documentary
"Jazz" soars to its most emotionally
wrenching heights.
Brubeck's moving cry from the heart
on camera is one of the darkest, most
soulful blue notes struck on TV in years.
It is a rare, genuine piece of reality tele-
vision that is about something of sub-
stance. It's about our past, present and
future. This fleeting yet powerfully mov-
ing moment pops up out of the blue in
the seventh episode in the ten-part, near-
ly 19-hour documentary, which pre-
mieres Jan. 8 on PBS.
Looking lean and stoic, Brubeck was
interviewed in the quiet sanctuary of his
Wilton, Conn., home where he and his
wife lola raised their six children.
After talking about his experiences as
an infantryman in World War II, he
recalls the first time he faced the mark of
racism when he was a boy growing up
on a California ranch managed by his
father, a rugged harmonica-playing cow-
boy and state champion steer roper. The
silver-maned, craggy-faced jazz legend
tries desperately to hold back his tears
but can't.
"The first black man that I saw," he
remembers, "my dad took me to see a
friend of his and asked him to 'Open
your shirt for Dave.' There was a brand
on his chest. And my dad said, 'These
things can't happen.' That's what I
fought for," Brubeck says.
A pianist, composer and band leader,
Brubeck is one of the most successful
and famous jazz musicians. He also has
been one of the most unfairly maligned
figures during jazz's 100-year history.
When he soared to success in the
1950s, writers savaged his music,
declaring it bombastic. Other critics
damned it as effete. Some critics
groused that recognition had come far
too easily. It was almost as if this "cool
West Coast" musician - a meaningless
description he despises - never paid
dues.
Others charged him with being a
usurper, a kind of Great White Hope
basking in the media limelight that
should have been reserved for black
giants such as Duke Ellington or Thelo-
nious Monk.
Just three years after his quartet was
formed, Time lauded Brubeck for his
"deep, almost mystical seriousness,"
with which he made "some of the
strangest and loveliest music ever played
since jazz was born."
Even with the magazine's huge boost
and purple prose and praise, Brubeck
still says making the cover was "a mixed
blessing." It was "mixed," he says,
because of the reaction from critics and
because he and Ellington were great
friends.
Critics declared that Brubeck's music,
with its "European elements" - actual-
ly, the odd time signatures and drummer
Joe Morello's polyrhythms were more
like African elements -undermined the
rich black heritage of jazz. Yet Brubeck
has always acknowledged his debt to the
music's bedrock black legacy and its
incomparable black masters and innova-
tors. For Brubeck, his friend Duke is,
was and always shall be the greatest of
American composers.
"I heard a knock on my hotel room
door first thing in the morning, and there
was Duke standing in the doorway:
'Dave, you're on the cover of Time mag-
azine.' My heart sank. I wanted to be on
the cover of Time after Duke. It was the
worst thing for me to be before Duke
and to have him deliver it to me and say,
'Here it is, Dave."'
Brubeck's piece, "The Duke" his lyri-
cal homage to his friend, has become a
jazz standard. Sometime later, Ellington
became the next jazz musician to make
Time's cover.
Perhaps because of that boyhood
experience of seeing a branded black
man, Brubeck always took a stand
against racism. Jazz, he says, is "free-
dom music"
In the 1950s, sacrificing many lucra-
tive concert dates in the South, Brubeck
refused to go along with racist laws and
customs that banned white and black
musicians from playing together in pub-
lic. Eugene Wright, a black bassist, was
a member of the classic DBQ, taking
over in 1957 from white bassist Norman
Bates, remaining with the group until it
disbanded in 1967.
On one Southern tour, he canceled 23
of 25 dates because they didn't want
Wright on stage. For Brubeck, turning
80 is certainly not a sign to take five
Although he has had triple bypass
surgery in recent years, he still plays
more than 80 nights on the road annual-
ly and makes European tours the way
more ordinary folk make jaunts to the
mall. Will the maestro, who as pianist
and composer has bridged the gap
between jazz and classical music as few.
have, ever quit?
"Not yet. Not as long as I'm healthy,
Travel is the hardest part. Playing is the
easiest and most fun," he says.
s sa Rajt
Q T: its Writer
Covering everything from Dave
Matthews to Wyclef Jean to the Dixie
Cicks, the University's oldest co-ed
a' cappella group Amazin' Blue rarely
disappoints at live shows.
Continuing this tradition of excel-
ledt; musicianship tonight, Armazin'
i ll perform "Iron Clef," in their
1 5th year here at
the University of
Michigan. What
can one expect
y Amazin' to hear at the
Blue: Michigan The-
ron Clef' ater tonight,
J irn 0>f ' besides the rous-
Michigan Theater ing harmonies
Tonight at 8 and well-
those their voices to make diverse
sounds. In Amazin' Blue, members of
the group arrange the songs in this
non-instrumental style themselves.
Founded by graduate student Mike
Wang in the mid-80's, the group has
had some amazin' successes. Their
recently released CD "Raising the
Bar" is currently at number seven on
the "Mainly A Cappella" charts. This
marks the first time in history that any
college a cappella group has ever
been in the top 10 of the charts. Yet
another success has been amongst
their peers in the college a cappella
genre. Each year a CD called the
"Best of College A Cappella" is com-
piled and includes 15 of the most out-
standing college a cappella songs in
the nation. This year, "Millennium,"
originally a Robbie Williams song,
was selected for the compilation.
David Reiser, Amazin' Blue's Musi-
cal Director, says, "they pick 15
songs, and we've been on there every
year except for one." No single group
in the country has been on more
often.
At "Iron Clef," expect to hear some
old Amazin' favorites including "Mil-
lennium" and "Why Should I Cry for
You;' as well as some new soon-to-be
classics. Here are some hints about
what to expect: Devoted Barenaked
Ladies and Counting Crows fans are
in for a treat. Classic rock fans, sur-
prisingly, will not be let down, either.
I I
N
arranged songs
that the group is
known for? In
addition to the
usual feast of
eclectic tunes,
added some fea-
Want A
Challenge'?
.a experience
the magic!
he' Tempst
By William Shakespeare
UM School of Music M Dept. of Theatre & Drama
December 14 -16, 2000 at 8 PM + Power Center
Tickets $20 and $15 " Students $7 with ID
League Ticket Office " 734-764-0450
Amazin' Blue has
tures to their live show that are sure to
make it even more engaging: The
highlight will be choreography and
skits not previously seen at Blue's live
s 's, now possible due to a recently
based sound system.
T,he a cappella musical style is
characterized by a lack of instru-
ments. Instead, the members use
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